Liberation Theology in Central America. Liberation Theology and the Marxist Sociology of Religion. CLIC Papers

1989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa K. Barnes ◽  
Antonio Ybarra-Rojas
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Sociology Of Religion

Liberation Theology and the Central America Solidarity Movement

2019 ◽  
pp. 95-126
Author(s):  
Sharon Erickson Nepstad
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Central American ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Revolutionary Movements ◽  
School Of The Americas

This chapter examines the conditions that fostered liberation theology in Latin America. The chapter provides a brief overview of liberation theology’s central themes and how it fueled revolutionary movements in Central America, particularly in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. It surveys the Catholic hierarchy’s responses, ranging from sympathy to condemnation, and highlights several US religious movements that expressed solidarity with Central American Catholics who were fighting for social justice. These organizations included Witness for Peace, which brought US Christians to the war zones of Nicaragua to deter combat attacks, and also Pledge of Resistance, which mobilized tens of thousands into action when US policy toward the region grew more bellicose. Finally, the chapter describes the School of the Americas Watch, which aimed to stop US training of Latin American militaries that were responsible for human rights atrocities.

Epilogue

2020 ◽  
pp. 240-250
Author(s):  
Theresa Keeley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Foreign Minister ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Women's Role ◽  
Salvadoran Civil War ◽  
The Church

This chapter analyses health-care disagreements that reveal the continuing debates over women's role in the church but lacked the focus on Maryknoll. It discusses the Vatican's response to Central America and liberation theology that showed a marked changed from the 1980s just as U.S. domestic debates focused less on Maryknoll. It also recounts how Miguel d'Escoto successfully petitioned Pope Francis to reinstate him as an active priest in 2014 after being suspended in 1985 for refusing to give up his post as Nicaragua's foreign minister. The chapter mentions Maryknoller Roy Bourgeois that remained excommunicated for participating in a ceremony in which a woman was ordained. It investigates how the United States repudiated the human rights abuses of the Salvadoran civil war under Barack Obama.

scholarly journals Liberation Theology From a Marxian Perspective

1991 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Kruk
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Christian Socialism ◽  
Socialist Movement

Marx denounced religion in general, and the nineteenth century Christian Socialist movement in Europe in particular, as oppressive forces which can never authentically take the side of the poor in transforming an unjust society. I compare the development of the Christian social movement in Europe to the development of Liberation Theology in Central America to establish whether Marx's criticism of religion applies to the latter. I find Liberation Theology to be markedly different from Christian Socialism in its approach and aims. The authenticity of its commitment to the poor defies Marx's analysis of religion and places Liberation Theology alongside his own efforts to liberate the oppressed.

Liberation Theology

2020 ◽  
pp. 155-174
Author(s):  
Phillip Berryman
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
First Century ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Christ Church ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Military

In the 1960s, young Latin American theologians proposed that the circumstances of their continent—overwhelmingly poor and Catholic—raised questions that required their own theology. These questions arose from a pastoral context, but had political implications. They have pursued these questions through different contexts, especially the military dictatorships and the conflicts in Central America. In the 1980s, dozens of theologians worked together to develop major themes in theology (God, Christ, church) from a liberation standpoint. In the changed context of the twenty-first century, some theologians have continued their work, and have been pleased with the direction of the papacy under Pope Francis.

The Association of Communitarian Health Services (ASECSA) and the Role of Religion and Health in Central America

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Fitzpatrick-Behrens
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
International Development ◽  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Religion And Health ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

The Association of Communitarian Health Services (ASECSA) is a transnational, religiously influenced health program in Central America created during the Cold War. ASECSA was founded in 1978 by a small group of international health professionals with ties to programs started by Catholic and Protestant clergy and laity in Guatemala’s western highlands in the 1960s. It introduced a model of healthcare in which Maya health promoters and midwives became partners in healing rather than objects to be cured. Support for the health programs and ASECSA came from secular and religious international agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), German Misereor, Catholic Relief Services, and the World Council of Churches. ASECSA was founded to disseminate knowledge of popular health education strategies used by health promoters and midwives to provide preventive and curative medical services to their communities. The education methods grew from Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and its use by religious agents influenced by liberation theology. Although it was founded in Guatemala, ASECSA’s publications and meetings attracted participation by health professionals and paraprofessionals from Mexico, Central America, and even the Caribbean. Ecumenical religious centers affiliated with liberation theology in the 1960s and 1970s facilitated the development of popular health programs that played a defining role in the region.

Déjà Vu

2020 ◽  
pp. 211-239
Author(s):  
Theresa Keeley
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Bush Administration ◽  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
Deja Vu ◽  
Déjà Vu

This chapter analyses intra-Catholic debates that no longer held the same political significance for U.S.–Central America relations despite the constant comparisons between the murders of the churchwomen in 1980 and the Jesuits in 1989. It illustrates the conservative Catholics' imprint on U.S.–Central America policy that reached its height with Ronald Reagan but began to disintegrate with the Iran-Contra revelations. It also talks about the minority of conservative Catholics that suggested the murdered Jesuits were Marxist collaborators, which was unlike the attacks on the churchwomen's victimhood. The chapter emphasizes how the conservative Catholics' concerns about liberation theology, the church's direction, and Maryknoll were muted. It cites that the George H. W. Bush administration did not reflect conservative Catholic views or seek to insert itself into intra-Catholic debates over U.S.–Central America relations.

scholarly journals SOBRE O MÉTODO DA TEOLOGIA DA LIBERTAÇÃO NOS 20 ANOS DO MARTÍRIO DE IGNACIO ELLACURÍA

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (115) ◽  
pp. 395
Author(s):  
Francisco De Aquino Júnior
Keyword(s):  
El Salvador ◽  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
The Poor ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
Constitutive Components ◽  
The University

Este artigo se insere no contexto da celebração dos 20 anos do martírio de Ignacio Ellacuría, seus companheiros Jesuítas e duas mulheres, Elba e Celina, na Universidade Centro-americana de El Salvador. Em primeiro lugar, procura mostrar o vínculo entre teologia e martírio na vida de Ellacuría: entregou sua vida no labor intelectual e foi assassinado por causa do conteúdo e das consequências desse mesmo labor. Em segundo lugar, aborda um de seus aportes teológicos mais originais e fecundos: o método da teologia da libertação (problematização, orientação ou direção fundamental e estrutura básica: elementos constitutivos em unidade dinâmico-operativa). Por fim, convoca a uma memória teológico-martirial, enquanto atualização em nossa vida e atividade intelectual-teológica de sua entrega aos pobres e oprimidos deste mundo.ABSTRACT: This article is part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the martyrdom of Ignacio Ellacuría, his fellow Jesuits and two women, Elba and Celina, at the University of Central America in El Salvador. First, the article attempts to show the link between theology and martyrdom in the life of Ellacuría: he dedicated his life to the intellectual apostolate and was murdered because of the content and consequences of that labor. Secondly, it addresses one of his most original and fruitful theological contributions: the method of liberation theology (questioning, fundamental orientation or direction and basic structure: constitutive components in dynamic operational unity). Finally, the article summons a theological, martyrdom memory, while updating in our life and intellectual-theological activity the surrender to the poor and oppressed of this world.

Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (01) ◽  
pp. 76-101
Author(s):  
PETER M. SANCHEZ
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
Resource Mobilisation ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology. A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

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